I have just found an excellent free online journal devoted to cyberinfrastructure and its use by the scientific community in research and communication. It’s called CTWatch Quarterly and the August issue is devoted to the impact of the Web, Web 2.0, and other new technologies on research, communication, and publication in the sciences. Many notable thinkers have articles in this issue: Ginsparg (creator of arXiv), Suber (Open Access leader), and Lynch (Coalition for Networked Information) are just three.
All the authors look toward a time when more information, including data sets, publications, video clips, and other types of information, are more freely available and integrated. While these articles focus on science disciplines, I don’t think the arts and humanities will be far behind. If you’d like a quick primer on cyberinfrastructure, see 7 Things You Should Know About Infrastucture by Educause.
The JHU libraries are very interested in these trends. We have a working group focused on Open Access (online journals freely available to the public). Our Library Digital Programs has programs in data curation and other cyberinfrastructure projects.
All of this is of primary interest to librarians, since our mission involves preserving and making available information. If you are interested or have questions, talk to a librarian today!
